Human And Not Funny At AllMarch 4 2017 By Abiodun Giwa

Sara Hernandez

Last week, newspaper reports showcased the case of Sara Beltran Hernandez, a female undocumented immigrant, who traveled from El-Salvador and was arrested in Texas. She has reportedly developed brain tumor and in hospital, from where the law enforcement has withdrawn her, according to her relatives.And the law enforcement has said that the 26-year-old undocumented mother of two was stable and voluntarily discharged by her doctor to The Prairieland Detention Center pending a Monday appointment with a specialist, according to a Daily News report on the matter. Hernandez told her relatives that a doctor told her that she has brain tumor. There is nothing concrete to show that her lawyers and relatives have petitioned the government for her release on humanitarian ground with medical reports that she has brain tumor. Instead, news reports about her case has been mixed up with recent political agitation for an open border. Many people considered Hernandez case as human and not legalistic at all and nor is it funny. But on the other hand, it is seen as funny that a woman embarks on a journey from her home country to another country, running from an abusive husband. They asked questions about why she did not contact the law enforcement in El-Salvador, before her journey to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant or get hold of legal traveling papers before embarking on her journey. People say that it is natural that husbands and wives to have disagreements. It is also possible for a husband and wife to be mad at each other with economic burden becoming too heavy on their shoulders in any country with serious economic downturn. Curious observers ask that when a husband becomes abusive, what is a wife supposed to do, instead of racing out of her house and out of her country, to a neighboring country, and without necessary immigration papers? Isn't it to get the law on her side in her country, to address the issue about her troublesome marriage? Is it a case that any woman, who has issues about marriage can run across the borderline to another country, without first seeking legal redress in her own home country for solution? Although, the case of Hernandez, whom news reports said has developed brain tumor, and her relatives asking she be not deported to her country against immigration judge's decision and be released from the custody of law enforcement, not sighting humanitarian ground at all, but on the ground that she ran away from her country, because of an abusive husband, does not appear a solicitation to government to look at her case purely on humanitarian ground. Hernandez's issue is one humanitarian case that has emerged in arguments over enforcement of immigration ​law, since the assumption of office by President Donald Trump. It is a humanitarian case, because the woman has developed a life threatening illness, and the demand should not have been on the ground that she has left her country and ends up in the custody of border patrol officers in Texas. She has not been deprived access to doctors. In response to law enforcement insistence to hold on to the woman, her relatives have said that those among them who have visited the woman have said that what they have seen of her is that she is weak and that if she is not released, the worst may happen. People know what that means or what is supposed to mean that the worst may happen. Isn't it to avoid this type of scenario that people are supposed to ensure orderliness by doing the right thing and avoiding careless mistakes? Is traveling from El-Salvador to the United States without papers not a mistake, which should have been avoided to not have worse experience? Is running away from an abusive husband a political ground for an asylum? Should the law enforcement be blamed for doing their work at the border? One lesson for people to learn from Hernandez's scenario is about what constitutes political persecution that can be used to ask for political asylum and that running away from an abusive husband does not in anyway constitute political persecution.